Context

Chad is facing a humanitarian situation characterised by population movements, food insecurity and malnutrition, health emergencies and climatic shocks. The security situation remains fragile due to ongoing armed conflict, attacks by non-state armed groups and intercommunal tensions, which have contributed to an increase in internal displacement, particularly in Lac Province. The country also faces recurrent food crises, exacerbated by climate change-related events such as droughts and floods.

In the East, the outbreak of armed conflict in Sudan has led to an influx of people, mainly Sudanese refugees and Chadian returnees. Even before the conflict in Sudan, there were more than 400,000 Sudanese refugees in the country. In addition, between 23 April to the end of May 2024, nearly 600,000 refugees from Sudan entered the country  and more than 170,000 Chadian returnees found shelter in camps and villages.

In 2023, 6.9 million people in Chad were in need of humanitarian assistance.

INTERSOS’ intervention

In N’Djamena, INTERSOS carried out activities to guarantee the rights of Cameroonian refugees, through the systematic monitoring of mixed cross-border movements. We ensured the identification and assessment of the needs of people with special needs, provided counselling and psychosocial support, in-kind and cash assistance to support people with special needs, and referred specific cases to the appropriate services. An emergency project was also implemented in the capital in the first half of the year, to support IDPs affected by exceptional flooding, with NFIs distributions and WASH activities.

In the Lake Chad Province, INTERSOS carried out protection monitoring activities. Specifically, our staff worked on monitoring border movements and identifying persons in need of international protection; profiling and pre-registering asylum seekers and refugees in camps; monitoring protection cases in and out of camps; collecting reports on protection cases and incidents. From these reports, our staff carries out data analysis, which is useful for planning the activities of INTERSOS and other humanitarian actors. The most vulnerable cases are referred to specialised services. In addition, INTERSOS provided counselling and psychosocial support to people with special needs, while extremely vulnerable people were referred to specialised services and received assistance in kind or in cash.

In the Lac Province we also provided food assistance to vulnerable displaced children and supported IDPs by ensuring access to free primary healthcare and laboratory services, reproductive health and integrated management of acute malnutrition, as well as promoting good health and nutrition practices at community level and in health facilities. Legal and judicial assistance to asylum-seekers and vulnerable refugees was provided in Guilmey (N’Djamena), Kalambari (Baguirmi Chari) and in Kaya, Mamdi and Fouli (Lac).

In the East of the country we also reached the most vulnerable Sudanese refugees and host populations with protection services and peaceful coexistence interventions in the Zabout camp, Daguessa return site and the Moundo host village in the Sila province.